WHEN A MATE goes bananas, an Aussie often says “he’s gone troppo”.
That word defines “troppo” as “mentally disturbed, allegedly as a result of spending too much time (originally on war service) in the tropics”. In WWII, Aussie soldiers were posted to the Northern Territory, then to Papua New Guinea and other tropical places. Those who began acting strangely were said to have been affected by the heat – “gone troppo”. The great John O’Grady even wrote a comic novel called , in 1968. And you’ve just thought of exactly the right mate to label “slightly troppo”, haven’t you!
